Hurwitz, Emanuel (Henry)

(b London, 7 May 1919). English violinist. He studied at the RAM on a scholarship awarded by Bronisław Huberman, whose coaching was the chief influence on his playing. After the war he became prominent as leader of the Goldsbrough (later English Chamber) Orchestra (1948–68) which he occasionally directed, and of the New Philharmonia (1969–71); he was the first violinist of the Hurwitz String Quartet (1946–51), the Melos Ensemble (1956–72) and the Aeolian Quartet (1970–81), with which he recorded the complete Haydn quartets in the edition by Robbins Landon. In 1968 he formed the Hurwitz Chamber Orchestra, renamed Serenata of London in 1972, which played without a conductor. A gifted and tactful leader, and a responsive ensemble violinist, he plays an Amati violin dated 1603. He was made a CBE in 1978.

Hus, Jan

(b Husinec, Bohemia, ?1371; d Konstanz, 6 July 1415). Czech reformer. He was one of the most influential preachers and teachers at Prague University at the beginning of the 15th century. He was burnt at the stake by order of the Council of Konstanz. He has been associated with a number of Latin and Czech hymns, but there is very little evidence to support his authorship; it seems that he arranged the medieval melody ‘Jesu Kriste, štědrý kněže’ (‘Jesus Christ, thou bountiful prince’) in the Jistebnice Hussite hymnbook, and he may also have arranged or translated the texts of several other hymns, but the best-known one attributed to him, ‘Jesus Christus, nostra salus’, is clearly not by him. Some Czech musicologists (e.g. Nejedlý) have described Hus as the innovator of congregational singing in church, but this practice arose in 15th-century Bohemia only after his death. Hus's aesthetic views on music and singing did not deviate from those of the medieval tradition. Thus musical history was influenced only indirectly by him: the Hussite reformation, of which he was the inspiration, constitutes the first significant chapter in the history of Protestant church music in Europe.

Hus, Walter

(b Mol, 2 July 1959). Belgian composer and pianist. He studied the piano at the Brussels Conservatory and obtained the Higher Diploma with Robert Steyaert. From 1984 to 1989 Hus was co-founder, pianist and composer of the group Maximalist!, a group whose aim was to break down the barriers between high and low culture with accessible new music. His activities as an improviser (especially as a member of the Belgian Piano Quartet) lead him towards composition. His music is characterized by direct utterance, without any intellectual or theoretical substructure. It is idiomatically conceived and based on the continuous elaboration of terse, startling formulas. This direct emotionalism can be seen in the title of Le désir, while other titles reveal such qualities as immediacy (Hic et nunc) and irony or the negation of theoretical foundations (La théorie). His style can be called ‘Romantic’ for its emotional intensity, impassioned and tonally ambiguous melodies, simultaneous combination of repetition and variation, and for the choice of Romantic poetry (such as Rilke’s Der Mann im blauen Mantel). Hus has written theatre music for Maatschappij Discordia and Niek Kortekaas, and ballets with choreography by Roxane Huilmand (Muurwerk, Hic et nunc).